I was working on this project at the time and we had to evacuate our site office close to the tunnel collapse in the central terminal area. I was working with the team who were monitoring the ground movement and luckily the abnormal shifts were picked up in the early hours of the morning when the runways were closed. From memory the portacabins in the CTA most at risk of collapse from the ground movement were occupied by Health and Safety …… somewhat ironic!

The fare from London Paddington to Heathrow Junction was just £5. And at that time it was £5 whether bought at the ticket office or onboard the train.

Travelling from Paddington to Heathrow Terminals 1/2/3 I believe was almost as fast as HEX is today. (Note the transit to T4 was longer as the coaches had to circumvent the airfield)

Why ?

For starters the rail journey time from Paddington was 10 mins or less.

When the train pulled into that Junction station (which was only a couple of hundred yards from the GWR mainline) a fleet of buses (each running to a separate terminal) were waiting. Passengers had only to walk a few yards across the platform.

The buses departed almost immediately and, *providing it was a clear run*, you alighted right in front of each terminal.

Today’s HEX takes about 15 mins from Paddington to Heathrow Central. But then time is wasted getting from the station into the terminals.